Brazil has one institution on the list of 33 experts from the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), an initiative led by the US government, the Rockefeller Institute and the Bezos Earth Fund – an entity created by Jeff Bezos, founder of the retail giant Amazon. The national entity that will advise on the initiative's actions is CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development).
The first meeting of the High-Level Consultative Group took place last Friday, with the presence of John Kerry, the United States' special envoy for climate. CEBDS, which brings together the Brazilian business sector, was represented by its president, Marina Grossi. There are only two other Brazilians in the group of experts: Luiz Amaral, from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and Achim Steiner, from the UN Development Programme.
The initiative by global giants aims to leverage measures that help maintain the 1.5°C maximum limit for global warming and boost private investment in increasing clean energy generation, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries. The productive sector is also represented by Peter Bakker, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) – to which CEBDS is affiliated.
At the meeting, participants discussed ways to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy in developing countries. Among the main actions, the group advocates the expansion of the carbon credit market as a strong ally in the fight against climate change. By April, the initiative plans to hold an event involving governments, the private sector and civil society.
“Efforts are needed in several areas, not just policies, but resources and joint work to ensure that warming does not exceed 1.5°C. With this initiative, which arises from the realization that we are moving away from the goal established by the Paris Agreement and that new measures need to be considered, the main objective is to create innovative conditions or leverage existing good initiatives capable of accelerating the energy transition and the advancement of a clean economy in the short and medium term”, highlights Marina Grossi. “At the meeting, special envoy John Kerry recalled that it is necessary to have a real positive impact to reduce emissions, but he also highlighted that we need simple rules for any mechanism that promotes these advances, so that we have the scale necessary to reverse global warming”, details the president of CEBDS.
